Big Tent K Retreat 2025: Cultivating Community

With Jayne Gumpel, LCSW, Samantha Lau, MSN, FNP, PMHNP-BC, Melanie Kawashima Velez DNP, PMHNP, RN, Carl Spitzer, MD, Eva Altobelli, MD, Rohini Kanniganti, MD, MSPH, HMDC, Amanda Itzkoff, MD, David Dansky, MD and Peter Corbett, LICSW

September 25 - 28, 2025

Address: 375 Panterkill Road PO Box 70 Phoenicia, NY 12464 United States

Standard Single - Shared Bath – $996.00
Economy Premium Single - Shared Bath – $894.00
Economy Single - Shared Bath – $732.00
Economy Double - Shared Bath (Shared Room) – $702.00
Economy Quad - Shared Bath (Shared Room) – $627.00

A Big Tent Ketamine (bigtentk.com) Retreat at Menla Retreat Center in Phoenicia, NY.

This September, step away from the noise and into something deeper—a space of connection, renewal, and shared exploration. Join fellow clinicians from our Big Tent community for a long weekend at Menla retreat center (Thursday–Sunday), where we will gather in nature’s embrace, in shared purpose, and in the spirit of curiosity.

This retreat is an opportunity to step out of isolation and into community, to engage in deep conversations, to explore new dimensions of our work, and to simply be together—held by the land, by each other, and by the unfolding experience of the moment.

This retreat is about presence, integration, community and the power of collective wisdom. Come as you are. Bring your wisdom, your questions, your curiosity, and your presence. Let’s sit in circle, walk the land, and create something meaningful together. Let’s dance the night away and howl at the moon too!

We will post a ride share from airports and NYC.

Schedule

Thursday, September 25

3 – 6 pm Arrival and Check-in
6 – 7 pm Dinner
7:30 – 9 pm Welcome Program

Friday, September 26

7 – 8 am Morning Movement
8-9 AM – Breakfast
9:30-noon – Morning Program
12:30-1:30 PM – Lunch
2-5:30 PM – Afternoon Program
6-7 PM – Dinner
7:30-9:00 PM – Dance Party

Saturday, September 27

7-8 AM – Morning Movement
8-9 AM – Breakfast (skipped for those participating in group experiential)
9 AM-12:30 PM – Group experiential
12:30-1:30 PM – Lunch
2-5:30 PM – Afternoon Integration Program
6-7 PM – Dinner
7:30-9:00 PM – Bonfire Gathering

Sunday, September 28

7 – 9 am Check-out of Rooms
7-8 AM – Morning Movement
8-9 AM – Breakfast
9:30-noon – Morning Program
12:30-1:30 PM – Lunch and Closing Ceremony

*Please note that the schedule is subject to change.

About the Leaders

Jayne Gumpel, LCSW

Jayne Gumpel, LCSW (she/her/hers) is a psychotherapist, trainer, and teacher with 30 years of experience working with couples, individuals, and groups in New York City and Woodstock, NY. Jayne is a professional clinical trainer in Psychedelic Integration Psychotherapy, is a member of the Woodstock Therapy Center’s Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) team, and has completed MDMA-assisted psychotherapy […]

Learn more about Jayne Gumpel, LCSW

Samantha Lau, MSN, FNP, PMHNP-BC

Samantha Lau, MSN, FNP, PMHNP-BC, discovered her passion for healthcare at a young age while observing her grandfather’s veterinary work, later deepening that calling as she witnessed the compassionate care nurses provided to her ailing father. Now a psychiatric nurse practitioner and founder of ElevateHer, Sam empowers women to embrace their emotions, heal from trauma, […]

Learn more about Samantha Lau, MSN, FNP, PMHNP-BC

Melanie Kawashima Velez DNP, PMHNP, RN

Melanie Kawashima Velez DNP, PMHNP, RN is a musician, nurse, and festival harm reduction volunteer who offers ketamine therapy in nature and legal psilocybin facilitation in Oregon. She collaborates with traditional wisdom keepers to weave modern facilitation practices in authentic, right relationship and also teaches at CIIS CPTR.

Learn more about Melanie Kawashima Velez DNP, PMHNP, RN

Carl Spitzer, MD

Carl Spitzer, MD is the founder of Big Tent Ketamine. He practiced emergency medicine for 34 years and segued into ketamine and psychedelic therapy in 2018. He and his wife Tia Mallette, RN together run Innate Ketamine Therapy in San Rafael, CA.

Learn more about Carl Spitzer, MD

Eva Altobelli, MD

Eva Altobelli, MD, an addiction psychiatrist with decades of experience, specializes in holistic healing by integrating recovery, psychiatry, and creative wellness. She founded Home-LA, a Los Angeles-based wellness center offering psychiatry, psychotherapy, and ketamine-assisted therapy.

Learn more about Eva Altobelli, MD

Rohini Kanniganti, MD, MSPH, HMDC

Rohini Kanniganti, MD, MSPH, HMDC is a board certified family physician who serves in Hospice and Palliative care as well as in Integrative Psychiatry. She is a teacher and practitioner in the Ketamine Assisted Therapy space.

Learn more about Rohini Kanniganti, MD, MSPH, HMDC

Amanda Itzkoff, MD

Amanda Itzkoff, MD is an assistant professor of Psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai hospital, and a pioneer in the use of ketamine and psychedelic-assisted therapies. She has been treating patients with ketamine for psychiatric illness in her private practice since 2014, and was one of the first psychiatrists in the […]

Learn more about Amanda Itzkoff, MD

David Dansky, MD

David Dansky, MD trained in both Internal and Emergency Medicine. He has practiced primarily Emergency Medicine for the last 40 years, in both the San Francisco Bay Area (UCSF) and on the Monterey Peninsula in California. His focus is to employ both conventional and integrative medical techniques and therapies in the hopes of bettering the […]

Learn more about David Dansky, MD

Peter Corbett, LICSW

Peter Corbett, LICSW had been a psychotherapist for over 25 years, before starting a KAP clinic, The Center for Healing Journeys, in Northampton, MA, in 2020. He is on the teaching faculty for the Ketamine Training Center, and is co-Director of Ketamine Psychotherapy Associates. He has been in the managing group of Big Tent Ketamine […]

Learn more about Peter Corbett, LICSW

Categories : Accommodations Only, Other Retreats at Menla